A new Microsoft group, headed by one of the company's top executives, has been chartered to knit together a diverse range of technologies into offerings for "knowledge workers," company sources confirmed.

Siebel Systems is well aware that CRM has a black eye, as critics slam CRM implementations as pricey and ineffective. But Siebel Executive Vice President David Schmaier maintains that such statements obscure the truth.

While a large group of EMC's investors continue to hope that EMC will sell parts of itself to create more clear valuation for them, EMC is likely heading in the opposite direction by considering more acquisitions, according to a top analyst.